On this weeks special viewer question and answer episode Dave Pezzino; Head Coach of the men’s golf team at The University of Connecticut returns on the podcast to help answer some of the audience questions with Roger and Ryan. Coach Pezzino and the UConn Huskies are off to solid start to their season; in this episode he gives some insight on how his team set goals and what they are doing to achieve those goals!
Have Questions? We would love to hear from you! Send us an email at Hubofjuniorgolfpod@gmail.com or leave a comment in the comment section to potentially have your question answered on the next Podcast Viewer Question & Answer!
Junior Golf Hub: https: //app.juniorgolfhub.com/login
NB3: https: //www.jgnc.org/
Hi there and welcome to the hub of junior golf podcast I’m Ryan BD joined as always by the founder of the junior golf Hub Roger Nick and Roger uh spring is here for some uh summer is here for others and of course uh many in the
North are still uh uh can see the the end though the March is is here and with March will come some spring and some opportunities to play a couple 70 degree days in New England even in the the end of February so I think everyone for sure
Is uh excited that uh Spring Golf is is here or just around the corner an exciting time for golf as well H how about Anthony Kim what do you what do you think of that Raj I tell you what uh I was watching his swing that was posted
Online um the other day and he looks pretty good but you know what we know golf is hard and one of those games uh are are his game hasn’t been tested for 12 years in uh tournament competition so it’s going to be interesting uh but I
Love seeing it listen I I I was a big fan of Anthony Kim when he was out there on tour his big personality um had had the pleasure to spend a lot of time with him at one point uh so really excited to see what’s going to happen with that obviously it’s
Buzz In The World of Golf right now with Liv you know getting some a new title sponsor for their Friday so getting more coverage things like that so and adding players like that to to their roster I think it’s only going to help yeah no doubt and uh and certainly with that we
Welcome our guest today uh the 17th year as the head coach of the Yukon Huskies Coach Dave Pino thanks as always coach for joining us uh we really appreciate your time with Roger just uh talking about some of that warm weather you’ve had up there in New England and uh
Getting out on the on the grass has had to be uh an added bonus when you get the that kind of treat in February it’s uh it’s it’s added time for sure um but again we we’ve been traveling we’ve been on the road so it’s been uh it’s been a productive last
Couple weeks for us for sure uh you know a couple questions for hey hey Ryan hang on he’s saying it’s been productive week you guys have won you guys have done a lot of stuff so don’t don’t play it down too much there Dave I’m not playing it
Down that’s part of the process we got it’s part of the goals baby you got work to do work to do off to a good start let’s put it that way you guys are off to a good great start I I appreciate that all right come on Coach you know it
Traditionally uh coming from the Big East certainly um New England golf uh you know is is the NCAA tournament a goal that you talked to your guys about before the year is it trying to win the Big East is it just trying to get the the best ranking that any Yukon team has
Ever had what is what is kind of like goals that you set so I I’ll give you a a broad brush of what we’ve Set uh not specifics but we’ve we’ve got a couple different goals um uh that really fall into okay this is
Where we want to go but how do we get there and we’ve got to build the process underneath all of that to accomplish what we want to accomplish you know I think um when you want to be Su successful at something you need small victories every
Day and I think if you put the idea of winning conference and um going to Regionals winning regionals and going to the NCAA there’s just so many steps that to get there that I think sometimes you forget where your feet are and it’s important that we reset our goals uh
Every tournament um but you know winning x amount of tournaments being in contention in certain tournaments um those those type of things and we have individual goals too but um most importantly you know I I try to keep it you know what’s in front of you right
Now um you know we talk about it when we get to the golf course it’s like they’re we’ll go work off the whole location sheet with weather and decide what holes you know certain areas that we can go after and some whole locations to avoid and those type of things but other than
That um I think that’s uh you know you can’t talk about winning without you know working with what you have in front of you and each week I think those goals change we play pretty demanding schedule you know we opened up the season this year at Tennessee and
You know I think most of that team flew in most of that tournament field flew in private and one of the kids who played in that event is now on the live tour so if you want to see what big boy or big girl golf looks like those are the type
Of things that we do here at Yukon and and those goals change all the time I mean it I think goal setting is very important but I think every day goal setting is a little bit more important than we want to win conference who doesn’t want to win conference we want
To go to the an sub who doesn’t want to go to the end the BL so yes those are those are pillars that we want to get to and Ryan don’t don’t forget we I walk by 11 National Championship banners on the women’s side five on the men’s side I
Walk by them every day it’s this is not hyperbole um you know the standard is that so you know it’s uh the last time a team from New England won a national championship was the early 1900s and you know my focus is on someday to to change that and you know
To get there we need to learn how to be better course managers more discipline on the golf course um and I think those things will be productive parts of what we want to do to get to that uh to get to see what San Diego looks like in late
May hey well coach I mean that’s that’s really good stuff I love the uh what’s important now uh Mantra I know that’s a lot of stuff that we talk about at our Academy got it from you guys yeah I think it’s it’s just so important uh
For all of us really to think about that uh what’s important now just like this podcast this is important now so coach you’re in the New England area we have lots of questions I know Ryan’s going to go through we’ve got lots of questions here from parents now on the podcast
We’ve get getting some great uh but one of the questions I’ll ask because of what you just talked about which is recruiting and you know for what you for your program to be successful you going to have to continue to recruit the best athletes best golfers out there um your program is his
Skyrocketed over overnight success in 17 years right I don’t know about that but thank you yeah so kind so we have a question for uh from a parents about you know I’m a junior in high school is it too late to get recruited you know give it give
Us a little scenario obviously you’ve been at many different levels of coaching uh women’s side the inside top D1 program as you as you’ve alluded to before what what can they expect as a junior golfer and a junior in high school you know saying is it too late what do they need to
Do you well I mean I think obviously going out and um playing good golf obviously helps and moves that uh that time frame a lot quicker um but I think it’s important that junior in high school should go when they’re going to play in tournaments I think they should
Go and look at schools do an unofficial visit with the coach or without the coach and and see where they’re at I think it’s important that you love the school you’re at love the campus it has to have the degree you want um I think that’s really important sometimes uh
Young people will fall in love with an institution and they’ll be like well I’ll just I’ll just I want to major in real estate but I’ll just major in business and do my thing and don’t do that it’s a it’s a four-year window but it goes by like a Sprint and I think
It’s important that um the the young people listen to their parents and and and reach out um about asking questions like will I be successful on that campus like do I need a small campus do I need can I survive on a big campus those are the type of
Things that when you take away the golf part of it what is your day-to-day student athlete experience look like and that’s important but I think what would really do um the student athlete the junior year a lot of good is um connecting with the coach setting up a
Zoom or you know getting getting on their calendar to to do an official or an unofficial visit and seeing what campus is like and I get it I I know like there’s there’s a shot clock in the back of every parent’s head and it starts June 15 and there’s a basketball
Official standing behind them doing a 10 count like they’ve got to they’ve got to be committed I saw the other day like who’s going to be the first two 2025 kid committtee all right well hope hopefully that young men or woman is going to make the
Decision of a lifetime which is a big decision you know I I try to tell our young man I I want you to ask a thousand questions I want to make sure that this is your Forever school um and that you know when you make this decision I
Wanted to be part of your maturity process because your your first big solo decision should be who you’re going to marry um but this one here this one could be more family based but ask a bunch of questions especially with the way the internet is now you know you
Can we only had the Ping guide when I was in college so you know young people can you know so you know some of these Instagram accounts are so great that you can really see what these programs are all about um and that’s important you
Know and and I think one good thing was you know I could I can bet that most Juniors have a connection to all the programs in and around New England you know some separation degree of separation and just reach out to those to reach out to those players on the
Team and ask questions you know I I think it’s it’s important to find out you know what I’m like and what it’s like to play at Yukon and how we travel and you know what kind of academic support we have you know those things are important um because the whole recruiting process yes
It’s very sexy and oh I’m being recruited yeah I mean like if you could play golf and you’re in New England people like New England kids the boys and girls in New England they’re tough they’re Hardy they can handle bad weather they’re great academically so kids in New England are gonna have a
They’re gonna have options which is a great thing and I’m really proud of that part of it that we see kids stay here and go to Great programs and we see them go off and play at Great programs too so um but I think all the parents need to
Pump the brakes and understand that this is a massive decision um you know it needs to be something that’s this decision needs to be highly educated and and you know try to focus on what’s important for your son or daughter you know I’ve seen it all the time like oh
My kid’s on a full ride on the men’s side just so everybody knows on the men’s side are wicked rare those are really really rare you got to be a heck of a golfer of your ball because the men’s side only has four and a half scholarships and the women have six and
The men’s rosters are usually bigger in size yeah um you know it’s it’s uh you know I always tease the college golfers talk 68 shoot 78 and drive 88 sometimes when you’re in the recruiting process and you hear a kid or a parent say yeah I got a full ride on
The men’s side if that kid name isn’t Davis Chatfield and I don’t even know but like that kid’s on tour um or Scott Langley and I and I can tell you he was heavily recruited um you know I I just think that you just need to to to to service
Your son or daughter and all the rumor and inuendo and all the other stuff that’s out there about uh the recruitment process doesn’t exist and I think it’s important to understand that um the money needs to be a little further down the list I understand financially that it has to
Be pretty high but would it be a good thing to get a pretty big scholarship and then to play for a psycho that travels bad has a lot of money um won’t develop that young man forget the golf side of it every kid that plays division
One can play at a high level but my job and and I like to think that men that and women coaches that I I call dear friends this isn’t about birdies and Bogies it’s more about how do I make you know Colin Spencer a better young man
And that’s at the Forefront of what we do here at Yukon um and if you don’t have that where you’re going and you’re looking you can get six full rides and it won’t matter at the end of the day coach let’s let’s dig down a little bit
On the on the question that that Roger took uh from Kevin who who who wrote that question in uh so June 15th everyone knows that you brought up Caleb Sarat certainly he probably I’m guessing he signed on June 15th at Tennessee I mean you’re talking about a guy that has
Been a top four or five player in his class since there the rankings came out so you know if you’re a top five player in the country the world uh in your class there you’re you know June 15th might be realistic if you’re not I’m curious about this uh what is the latest
You’ve ever offered someone a chance to play on your roster and what I mean by latest is you has it been a senior has it been a senior that was in his second semester like how late can that process go as as you talk about people hitting
The panic button on June 16th of their sophomore year how late can it go so we have a young man on our team um who I’m not gonna give you his name but I I think he’s going to be dynamic he’s unbelievable and uh we found him
In uh I don’t know February of his senior year wow um and the the unique thing about him is uh the moment I spent nine holes watching him play because I was watching somebody else um I realized that that young man would be an absolute Dynamo in our program and our family he
Works really hard he’s a multiple sport athlete comes from a great family looks you in the eye shakes good firm handshake you know it’s there is no there is no time frame Ryan I know that the parents are going to get freak out and they’re like oh my gosh all these
Kids are committing and I’ve got nothing but welcome to the portal era right like this this thing’s kind of crazy right now it’s the wild west um but I I think it’s important that you know you do your homework and and if you’re if you’re
Going to freak out on June 16th of your sophomore to junior year then that student athlete and his parents or her parents need to be doing all the research before then but I I would say that you know do do your homework check out these programs you know ask
Yourself you know ask yourself the non-golf questions like what does it look like what’s the student athlete what’s the campus look like on a weekend is everybody gone because back when we all went to college there were suitcase campuses right everybody went home not so much anymore but you know what does
It look like do they have college game day showing up on Saturday for a Villanova basketball game probably not maybe not who knows but those are things that matter to the young men that play for us and what does practice look like you know is it is it qualifying and then
Coach just picks whoever he wants do they go out and play a 72 hole Banger and you have a winner and well coach doesn’t like that kid because he was a walk-on so I’m gonna pick Roger and Ryan instead of Dave that happens sometimes so you’ve got to get all those questions
Answered before you say okay I’ll take that 30% scholarship at a power five um school or you know you know that that you don’t think you can even play for you Roger and I have talked about this a lot don’t go someplace because of you know what what the brand is go someplace
Where you can go play and chase banners and championships you got to learn how to compete you gotta learn how to sleep on a lead how to chase down a lead those those things will only help you get better you know and um I hear it all the
Time like oh hey I’m gonna take a spot at this school okay cool good luck and I’ll never see the kid again doesn’t play doesn’t play a tournament at that school um you know for instance the young man I’m thinking about never played the tournament at that school now
He’s on the club team wow great that’s and he’s having a great time so glad I dodged a bullet with that because the most important thing is I I just don’t want I don’t want a young man or young woman to sit if when I was a
Woman’s coach I don’t want I don’t want to hear that they they want to do well I want to hear that they’re passionate about winning championships you know and that’s the standard here at our place and it’s it’s not easy to finish second third fourth fifth eighth in an event
And come home and bring your luggage into GLE and you you look up and Gino Jim Dan they’ve got they’ve got some fabric up there but I I I get I get a little anxious when parents start freaking out about the timeline because you know I think you have to find the
Right institutional fit period now has to be the most important component sorry if that was a little long run yeah that’s all right Dave thinking about that you know the timeline and I know we’ve got a few more questions right I know we want to get to but Dave thinking
About that timeline I I think it’s just so conditioned for so many years right I mean over the over junior golf uh especially here recently uh Co the scare of not having an opportunity the scare of you know all the things that’s going on obviously listen the transfer portal
Has been around for years it just is taking a different life the way it is now since Co because of now nil money different things so there I’m sure for you guys as coaches it’s got to be difficult to recruit a young uh kid coming out of high school which now to
Your your point a little bit is it’s it’s even getting later and it might be even a suggestion to say hey take a year take a gap year to keep getting your game better because there are so many kids jumping from school to school now with nil money being unrestricted which
I saw the CA just wave you know that uh that wand recently so or get denied that wand so that’s something that’s gonna impact all of this right so telling a or having a parent having this timeline in their mind that if they don’t get recruited ass sign by their junior year
Or their sophomore year as a commit and you know it’s just not it’s just not true anymore no and if you think about it um we we’ve we’ve had a nice little go with the with transfers here we’ve been very blessed had a great group of
Transfers coming in and I and I think what you’re seeing now in the recruiting World in college golf is do I want an 18-year-old untested freshman or do I want a 20 or 21 year old kid who’s played in one at the division two level um you know at a at a mid-
Major which one do you want you know coach I want the right institutional fit Ryan I I if if if I’ve got a young man who really wants to be here at the University of Connecticut it’s the it’s the role of the dice that I take that
They would walk in my office three days after regionals and say Hey I want to transfer to XYZ University that’s okay by me um but I I’m G to do right by the guys that are on our roster and Coach that young man up but I think the the
Biggest thing is what Roger said is it’s it’s okay it’s okay to take a gap year it’s okay to to go and try to fight your way onto a lineup you know I think there’s nothing more about a determined person with a chip on their shoulder I
Don’t want any part of that person but um you know I it is very challenging now guys because you see emails if you were to open my email box right now it’s transfers C high school kid Joo kids that don’t know anything about my program that are just you know it’s like
The old you know massive you know email merge and and like I you have to want to play college golf at the division one level if you want to play in New England you know we travel a lot in the spring we miss a lot of school we’re off campus a
Lot so it’s important to understand that part of it but yeah I mean you know I I started officiating high school basketball again as a hobby and I’ve worked on having a more patient whistle I think I think it’d be okay if you’re in the recruiting process to have a
Little a little bit more patient whistle and listen and go see more and you know do those those do those unofficial trip visits without the coaches that’s that’s great but see see as much as you can uh let’s take this question from Evelyn coach and Roger uh hoping you guys can
Help a few novice parents that are entering into this golf world your podcast is an incredible road map I have two daughters that are actively competing in high school golf their scores continue to drop should we enter some National competitions or is it too premature what is the best approach to
Enter competitive golf they are in ninth and 10th grade they have year round swing coaches there you go take all right here we go so here’s what I think I am a huge believer in the way Tiger Woods was developed as an elite winner so Evelyn thanks for your call and your question
Here’s what I would do go go have them compete in the local area have them become very accomplished at winning in the local area then Branch out playing some more Regional stuff then go to the state then go within you know the broader part of the United States and
Then start investing in some national junior tournaments but you have to win and I want to make this clear you’ve got to be able to win and learn how to win at the step that that they’re at now and then they can take their next step because I think it’s important I really
Appreciate when our New England kids go out and they they play events and there’s 40 kids they never heard of that are really great and it challenges them I think that makes you a better player but to become an elite uh college player you got to learn
How to win and uh High School golf is so great I think it’s important I think it’s essential when you think about being a part of a team because those bus rides will be the memories of a lifetime I still am great friends with all the guys on my high
School team and uh miss my high school coach very dearly Odell Nasser but I think it’s important that you take steps and learn how to win and compete and continue to grow and grow and grow having a year time year-long swing instructor is great I think you taper
That attention to the swing off when the when you can get on grass Roger you can talk about that if you want but I think it’s important to go out and compete but you got to take baby steps and listen uh Evelyn the the the trajectory is not
Going to be like this right it’s going to be like be highs and lows all over the place they’re going to shoot great scores and they’re going to have um they’re going to play great and they’re going to lose an event they’re going to play terrible and have a good
Finish it’s going to happen right I promise you and on the GU side what you see about 14 15 16 and some 17 year olds and maybe 18 when they don’t when they don’t uh physiologically mature they’ll hit a gross spurt their golf will be horrific
They won’t be able to break 75 and their clubs won’t fit and there’ll be clothes won’t fit it’ll be just the weirdest thing again pump the brakes and uh one of one of my favorite humans of all time Jimmy herel went through that after he committed to us and and he was terrified
I told him listen you’ll be fine he’s 6’5 I mean he hits it four miles I told him don’t worry about it I’m not going anywhere he’s going to be fine but just understand that there’s no it’s it’s not a direct shot from Elite ninth and 10th
Graders to you know you know Clemson women’s golf whatever it may be yeah uh well said coach and I I agree with you it’s that that crawl walk run mentality you know when where you are you know what’s important now you know as far as development is concerned I think that
Was so if we didn’t learn anything else from Michelle we uh we learned that you better win where you are uh or you may not get to win much at all so um and no no knock on her I think she’s been a great U for the game women’s game for
Sure um but when when where you are develop uh the best possible way you possibly can in the physical the mental skills uh and one way to do that Ryan as we talk about all the time on the podcast is going through finding a coach that can do a certified PDI or Player
Development Index or assessment uh find out where your skills are mentally physically and golf wise and uh and go from there so great question from from Evelyn yeah I wrote this one down from our podcast last week and and this is a really interesting one uh my son is a
Great player has shot the course record three times of 62 he is one on the local and Regional level every time he gets in an ajga he chokes and shoots 80 what should I do well where have you assessed the mental skills yeah you know I mean that I would just
Say as much as I don’t want to talk about mental skills or mental instability for a young player the reality is that there’s something getting in the way when you’re TR you know going from some events and shooting those kind of scores and those other events that may be more significant or
Created as more significant events there’s a disconnect right so um we certainly talk about that all the time coach I’m sure you see it your players playing um it’s it’s it’s how do you approach it how are you approaching the moment uh and I think coach you alluded to this uh
Earlier again which is you’re following in the process and if they’re putting this weight on the hah events that are just more than it should be they’re certainly not following a process somewhere if they’re out there shooting 62s uh in other events and not TR that’s not transferring or maybe the golf
Course that they’re shooting those numbers on isn’t set up uh you know enough closely enough to what the ajga events are coach have you had a player that uh certainly came in with a lot of expectation from you based on on what they had done at the junior level and
And you saw in practice every day but for whatever reason when they got on the on the plane and went to a tournament it it didn’t translate so I think every program has that but I think expectations are what drives college golf gol coaches to be
Equipment reps or gets them out of the business I I don’t have any expectations if you’re on our team and uh I sign off on your NCAA roster position I you know I I have total faith that you can go post a score and help pay my mortgage
But I I hear what you’re saying I think it’s important that um I don’t put those expectations on anybody um and again it’s you know we look at you know their stats and you know where their finishes are scoring average and their Player Development and
We I look at it year to year and how how I can help them get better and you know that 62 piece that happens a lot that that young man or young woman is probably all over college golf that they can absolutely golf their ball in qualifying and when they get to a
Tournament they just their expectations change and I think that’s what it is right like what what Roger is alluding to is that you know you come down here to the Met Golf Association you play some met Juniors you know every Junior so like you you know all those kids and
Then you go to an agga and there’s 30 names you never heard of that can absolutely kick your tail in and then that’s when it the expectations hinder like he can hear she can shoot 62 but I I think the thing that I would say Roger
I like to do with our guys is we’ll we’ll push them to the forward teas I want to see how many birdies you can make and how comfortable you can feel and like when you have more time you know what does it feel like to be eight under like
Playing um against people what does it feel like to be six under you know and and I think that that that learning process is important and sometimes you know going back to what we talked about with Evelyn’s Kids is that how many young men in like 12 13
And 14 year old are playing the back theas when they have no business being back there they’ve never broke par in a tournament from the forward te’s that are that are Age and and strength the you know we we wouldn’t put an elite you know Rose zang’s not going to play 7,000
Yards right right that’s right and I I think it’s important that um the the person that shoots 62 goes and learns how to get under par stay under par and look at every event as well I gotta go post a score and and the conversation
I’d love to be in the car with that parent hearing hey this is an agga there’s a lot of stars available this week you’ve got to go play great and I I you know listen I’m a I’m a youth sports parent I don’t talk about any expectations with my son have two
College boys now and a 14-year-old son that uh plays soccer and I’m just like hey where are we going for ice cream afterward like he’s he’s got to be able to have some fun and you know shooting 62 at home and then 80 on the road that’s not a fun conversation that
Parent needs to be more cheerleader than coach and and I think that would be a big deal big difference let me ask you uh I’m a little confused by your answers both of you so I just want to clarify because this could go either way I initially thought you were
Saying that the kids put too much expectation on himself and the pressure of that expectation to shoot 62 is what is causing the 80 but then Coach I said well maybe you’re talking about he shows up at a big event and his expectation goes from B in every hole to wow I’m at
An event now I just hope I can make 18 pars were you saying that there’s too much pressure on himself or that he actually or she changes his their expectation because they have placed this tournament to mean more so that’s exactly where I’m going with this so here’s what I would say is
If you watch the parents of the Juniors and a kid misses a shot and the parent gives a a big sigh or they they kind of cross their arms or their body language is pretty crappy the kids can feel it they can see it and then that’s
Extra pressure on them and I I think that the expectation is a double double-edged sword parents and player right like the kids like well I shot 62 against you know low mer low Larry Mo and Curley back home my buddies but I come out here and Nathan Han just
Dropped a 66 on me like he was you know changing his shoes and I and I think that the thing that gets lost here is that golf is so hard mentally that I think you have to find a mental skills assessment not just for the golf stuff
Like think about it if you’re not assessing with the golf swing you’re just guessing and the mental part too you know and and I think Ryan you’re right I think it’s the player and the and I would like to add that I think it’s the external expectations because
Here’s the other thing that the three of us probably didn’t have to deal with growing up I didn’t start J golf to later but every kid’s social media is a social media highlight like this kid shot 65 well great it was pick clean in place and it was 69 it was 6,000 yards
Good job great playing but nobody knows those things it’s a highlight reel and when you know this when you can’t post that stuff there’s that added pressure when you see your friends posting stuff there’s that added pressure so I I I think the expectations are are way off
Base for the young man and for the parents sorry it was so long-winded but I hope I made sense yeah I’m just gonna add one little thing in there because and you said it right there at the end too which is I think the parents pressure there right I know you you
We’ve talked about this many times before but that pressure there the parents go well you know we’re we’re paying extra to go to the H traveling there is a expectation that’s set without any word saying I expect you to do better at this event because it’s
Just the other steps that go along with it in the in creating that significance of that event so so there are some things here for the parents need to be weary of it’s just another event that your kid wants to play in great let’s
Sign up and let’s go do it if it’s not then okay talk about it talk about why that’s different um and if it is a money thing for a lot of parents and a lot of kids feel that right kids know when their parents struggle with the financial situations and go ahead and
Talk about it there are a lot of things out there that you can you can use there’s resources we have the USA junior golf Federation that are you know we personally you know support a lot of kids you know planning events Ryan I know you and Nota have the same thing uh
In place in your foundation and making sure kids can play the ajga has you know their a grant I mean so there’s lots of ways so there’s resources for those parents that are out there listening to that to take that pressure off don’t put the pressure on the kid to say it’s more
Than it is um it’s just another event that they want to play in or maybe they’ve earned to play in hopefully they’ve earned to play it in and not not based on rankings and that kind of thing so uh coach uh thank you is always certainly you’re a a great barometer uh
For not only to for us to base these questions on but uh for what you’re doing at Yukon I know Roger joked at the beginning but I mean you it you are building an absolute program that is that is really uh starting to be taken uh notice from outside New England so
Congratulations on what you’re doing uh clearly you and your your guys are uh on a mission and uh you you I mean long way to go here we’re just getting into March but uh best of luck the next few months we know you’re gonna be playing long
Into the spring here yeah I I I really appreciate that but I I can’t thank you enough for having me to be a part of this but if I could just say how significant what Nota is doing um for junior golf for American Junior athletes I mean this is pretty substan
Um Conor good on our team had the the blessing of being able to earn a spot to go down and play in that championship and he told me it was the most significantly well-run event it was first class all the way so um you know
Kudos to to all the folks on your team and to no Bay and you know college champion and you know all that but he’s he’s doing what’s right in our game so thank you for me for me being a part of all this thank you awesome uh thanks
Coach best of luck catch up with see you guys thanks see you Dave thanks so much by bye anytime see and Roger uh as always some some really really good uh advice I wanted to save this question because this is is probably better for you and me than
Coach but uh we have one here that that really does get into the financial side of it um that this family just cannot afford to play uh tournament golf because as we know uh they are extremely expensive uh you mentioned a few but I I’ll even take it further I believe that
Every single uh Regional and National program has financial support and from what I understand it is the unwillingness of the parents to ask for it that ultimately this money actually Roger and I’m talking nine out of 10 I’m being serious m nine out of 10 it
Doesn’t ever get used and it that money just goes back into the pool for the following year because all of these organizations want to give it away they want your son or daughter to play for free if you can’t afford to play the tournament unfortunately none of them
Are M readers yeah I understand I don’t want to use the embarrassing but it you know sometimes it’s difficult to ask for money send an email uh send an email that explains your situation and I will promise you it will be so subtle no one even your child won’t know that they’re
Playing for free and I’m not even talking about discounted you can play any event in this country Roger for free you really can of America usgaa agga uh NB3 jgn C hurricane all the way down to state level you just have to ask they all have funds because every
Everybody at the end of the day really does want to grow the game and finances should not ever be the reason that your son or daughter can’t play uh no doubt Ryan I mean we run into this all the time it’s actually even on the junior
Golf Hub we have a resource center there that says here’s some you know uh uh organizations that do support and obviously all golf federations every single International go golf Federation every single us uh GA you know obviously USGA uh has an organization or funding um PGA of America for example does a
Great job of making sure all their sections in their junior tours and their junior um organizations get supported uh so you’re you’re absolutely right there is I mean every tour out there has a mechanism in which they can help a player get out there and play um youth
On the course I mean those guys have done a great job and now are supporting that some are more intrusive than others for example um at the to beay we don’t ask any questions yeah my philosophy Roger is if you want to take advantage of me and say that you need money when
You really don’t then I’m the sucker oh well yeah we ask no questions other than you just say you would like it yeah you say you like it I’ll give it to you every time yeah uh I know there probably are some that uh it might be a little
More extensive the process to get approved but I think most of them are probably like uh the not toay where you you really just go to the info page and say I’d like to play in this tournament uh I don’t have the finances for my son
Or daughter is there any way I can get some help and you’ll get an email back that day telling you that there you go for free yeah no no doubt I mean you know to your point Ryan most of these organizations and and I speak with the
Ajga quite often I mean how often they go without giving away all the money that they’ve raised to do this just support the junior golfers out there so um the message to the parent is don’t be shy don’t don’t be embarrassed um we all have been there we know um it is tough
To ask for help at times uh but for your kids sake do it because uh there’s a lot of us out there that want to help now I do want to ask this question in regards to the hub um because so many of our families on this podcast do have the
Swing coaches Roger they do have uh you know they they make it available for their son or daughter to be able to practice and they have a swing coach you brought up the mental part of it and I see it every day and that question that
I wrote down from last week’s podcast of the the player that is shooting 18 shots different like you said that if everything’s the same that is that is not a technical thing man that is between the ears and needs to be addressed and I think that’s the last
Thing in junior golf that parents actually look into so take a moment and inform me and everyone how we can use the Hub to go about and sharpen our players mental game and then if they need even more mental coaching that but is there a First Step that the Hub can
Help with that yeah I let me first and uh and foremost say that everybody talks about the mental game especially parents talk about the mental very early in their junior development right very few follow through because I think very few realize what it entails uh they’ll continue working on the golf swing
Technique uh and not actually do the work that’s necessary on the mental side the junior golf Hub has provided a lot of information within its Essentials guide to understand and and deliver an assessment a very quick assessment to be able to give you some information that
Says I probably want to have more of this I want to learn more from this uh which then will take them to um the Player Development Index website which we do a mental assessment which we’re the only one in the industry uh and to our knowledge only one that does a
Mental assessment that for junior golfers especially to understand that it’s about the developing the mental skills it’s not just about developing you know golf skill uh mental golf skills right so it’s a lot to it it’s a lot more to it than I think most people realize because these are things that we
Get Set uh in let’s call it in our ways if you will if we just allow things to linger versus actually actively work on your your mental skills just like you work on your technical skills or you work on your physical skills you have to
Work on your mental skills as as well um our you know clinical psychologists myself and a few others have developed our mental assessment Dr Brandt has done a wonderful job of being able to identify certain skills and certain mental traits that show up with the best
Players in the world the best people in the world the best people that rise to the top of their fields um and is able to now say here’s a recommendation to work on certain skills to get them there right so it’s it’s pretty significant but it takes a
Lot of work just like working on your golf swing you know I know again everybody you know uh wants to go to I have to have this perfect golf swing but as you can see on tour doesn’t matter what tour it is in the world they all do
It slightly different uh but they all do it the best they can uh and they don’t all win every week so there are many many factors to that right so U and I think by and large the mental skills sets of the development of those mental
Skill sets is usually left to the last thing that they actually work on and it really should be integrated in all of what they’re working on as a developing Junior golfer developing Junior person right so if you want to be the best you can be that’s that’s important awesome
Uh incredible and uh certainly encourage everyone to go to the uh junior golfhub junior gool hub.com uh utilize all the tools that are aail available there there are so many questions in junior golf and there is One-Stop shopping uh junior golf hub.com to handle all of your questions
And more importantly your Junior’s needs uh we certainly thank Coach Dave pazo the head coach at Yukon he’s off to a great start a lot of really interesting conversation there about finding the right school for your son and daughter that might not always be the biggest
Name I think that is a massive thing we see in in hey man everybody has an ego right and the reality is on when you pick your school you want to say that you’re going to the biggest school that you possibly can with the most tradition
In history even if that’s not the right fit you just want to brag about it pick your ego out of the way make the decision based on what’s the best fit for your son or daughter yeah and and not only that Ryan I mean think about
What he said about you know the the junior you know athlete uh in high school it’s not too late I think we you know we we do tend to have this this idea that if I don’t get recruited or signed by my junior year in high school
Or selected uh um you know when I’m in the sophomore I mean it it’s it’s not too late and there’s many options and quite frankly so many more schools just like Dave said because of the transfer portal there are more more there’s more time for the young athlete to actually
Develop um than they realize so if parents can just pump the brakes on getting their kids signed off as early as possible uh more options actually will present themselves the better you are awesome uh thanks as always Roger another great one hope we answered your questions keep the
Questions coming uh our producer and director Michael Nick will continue to to pick the good ones out and uh periodically we will continue to answer those questions and help you along on your path of junior golf for Roger Nick our director producer Michael Nick I’m Ryan bur once again saying until next
Time this has been the Hub of junior golf podcast
